1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to remote computer access, and more particularly, to a method and system for controlling desktop applications remotely from a mobile device using a special cloud-based cache for application icons.
2. Description of the Related Art
The industry trend of using mobile devices and various tablets presents some challenges with regard to remote access to desktop/laptop computers. For example, a user wants to open an application on a remote desktop of a computer from his mobile device. However, the application window has to be encoded and provided to the mobile device in real-time. This presents a problem in the existing systems due to network bandwidth problems. A desktop, for the purposes of this description, is a large image with a set of icons placed over it. When a user clicks on the icon something happens. When the user can not load the icon, he has a blank space on the desktop and does not know what he can click.
The application window can be transferred to a mobile device in either compressed or uncompressed form using UDP protocol. Conventional systems experience traffic problems that affect real-time rendering of the application on a mobile device. The traffic from the host to a mobile client can be slow due to the fact that the host is unique and is located very far (in terms of network distance) from the mobile client. The traffic is significantly affected by transferring the icons located on the host Windows Taskbar or on the Mac DockBar.
Furthermore, the host can be off-line when the mobile client is running. The mobile client needs the host applications' data including the host desktop icons but cannot get them. Conventionally, the icons can be loaded using JSON-based (JavaScript Object Notation) data serialization format, which can also create traffic delays. Thus, if a user wants to work with an application executed remotely on a host computer from his mobile device, he cannot use the application in real time.
Accordingly, a system for real-time remote access of host applications from a mobile device using efficient desktop icon loading is desired.